NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	HANG SENG	SHANGHAI COMPOSITE

KOSPI	SENSEX
NYMEX CRUDE	GOLD	VIX

Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow gained 111 points at 10,297, the Nasdaq
added 19 points at 2,190 and the S&P500 was up 14 points at 1,103.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was up 54.25 points at 10,425.34, while the
Hang Seng ended the morning ahead 261.16 points at 20,533.34.

Crude oil traded at $76.90 a barrel on Nymex.

Gold settled at $1,114 an ounce.

Happy trading!

G.

Banks told to comply on bonuses or lose UK banking licences in shock FSA ultimatum

AAL UBS: upgraded to buy from neutral
ANTO UBS: initiated neutral
ARM RBS: reiterated buy, tp raised to 235 from 220
BP. ING: reiterated buy
BP. Nomura: reiterated buy, tp 700
CGL Goldman: upgraded to conviction buy from buy
ENRC UBS: initiated buy
FGP Investec: downgraded to sell from hold
IAP Morgan Stanley: equalweight, tp cut to 425 from 505
IMT Citigroup: reiterated buy, tp raised to 2260 from 2025
LSE Citigroup: upgraded to hold from sell, tp raised to 675 from 660
LSE Morgan Stanley: underweight, tp cut to 720 from 741
RB. BarCap: initiated equalweight
SGC Investec: downgraded to hold from buy
TLPR Morgan Stanley: overweight, tp cut to 380 from 469
ULVR BarCap: initiated equalweight
VOD SocGen: reiterated sell, tp reiterated 100
XTA UBS: reiterated buy

I believe Merrill positive on BARC RBS and LLOY this morning, especially BARC - suggesting 53% upside. No specific recs at the moment.

Twitter Updates
more >>

Good morning.
It was so pleasant to see that my LLOY long had finally returned to profit (for a few minutes at least!)
Let's hope the upgrades from Merrill this morning follow through to some decent price rises.

Barc and RBS looking more healthy now.

Opening Market Overview

There's an iceberg bot on HMV sell-side at 80. Looks big - seems to have been running since mid yesterday afternoon that I'm aware of. Might be worth looking at if it clears.

Midday Market Overview

Grey and overcast today.

End-of-day Market Overview